Devices suitable for weighing large, heavy objects, such as tote containers of the type used for the storage and handling of liquid chemicals in bulk, have been, for the most part, limited to stationary floor scales of 5,000 pounds or more weighing capacity. Not all facilities that utilize tote containers are equipped with such floor scales and for those that are it is not always convenient or practical to transport the containers to and from the floor scales for weighing.
Some of the prior lift trucks include weighing devices wherein objects, such as tote containers, can be lifted by the trucks and weighed. The accuracy of the weighing apparatus of such lifting trucks is, at best, about 98%. The contents of a typical container weigh about 5,000 pounds, equating to a weighing error of known apparatus of plus or minus 100 pounds. One reason for the relatively high error of prior art apparatus is believed to be lateral loading of the load sensors caused by shifting of the container's contents, uneven flooring, and the like which produces a false reading of the weight of the container and its contents.
An object of this invention is to improve the accuracy of such lift truck weighing apparatus.